Speakers

Welcome from Iain Percy, Olympic Gold Medallist


Iain is an Olympic champion and Director of Sailing of America’s Cup challenger Artemis Racing.  He began his career sailing at Weston Sailing Club in Southampton.

Iain turned professional in 1998, after completing his degree in Economics from the University of Bristol, and within two years was representing Great Britain at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where he won gold in the technical Finn class. As a result of his Gold medal, he was honoured by the Queen and received an MBE.  Iain changed classes for the Athens Olympics in 2004, racing in the double-handed Star class. In 2005 he took a break from full time Olympic Class sailing joining America’s Cup challenger +39 Challenge as helmsman.  In 2006, Iain was back on the water in his Star with his new crew Andrew Simpson, his best friend of 25 years. The pair had a promising start to their Beijing Olympic campaign coming 6th in the Olympic Test Event and Bronze in the ISAF World Championships 2007.  The Star class field was extremely competitive and included 8 Olympic medallists and 7 Star World Champions. They took home the Gold from Beijing. 

Next, Iain turned his attention to America’s Cup Sailing as ‘Tactician’ for Team Origin, the British backed challenger, which included a World Match Racing title in 2011. Iain teamed up again with Andrew for the 2012 Olympics winning a Silver medal.  His third Olympic medal made him one of the most successful Olympic sailors of all time.

Following London 2012 Iain and Andrew joined up with Swedish America’s Cup Challenger of Record, Artemis Racing. In May 2013 the team suffered a tragic accident whilst training on the bay in San Francsico, where Andrew lost his life. Under extremely difficult circumstances the team rallied under, Iain’s new leadership as Skipper, making it to the start line of the Louis Vuitton Cup. It was an incredible achievement earning huge respect from the global sailing community.

Later that year Iain founded the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation, to honour his close friend, which aims to grow grassroots participation in sailing and provide opportunities to deserving children.

In October 2013 Iain was appointed Director of Sailing for Artemis Racing, and is currently building a team to challenge for the 35th America’s Cup.


Session 1 : Diversification

“Engaging Young Sailors” : Riki Hooker & Martin Wadhams, RS Sailing


Riki is International Sales Director of RS Sailing.  He focuses on expanding emerging markets in the rest of the world. Having helped build the international dealer network at RS Sailing and more recently, spearheading RS Sailing's entry into North America, Riki builds on the company’s presence on that continent whilst also concentrating on developing RS success in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Australasia.

Martin owns RS Sailing which was launched in the mid 1990s.  Following immediate UK success the range has steadily expanded; it is now the fastest growing sailboat brand internationally and has won multiple design awards around the globe.

RS sailing is based close to the UK south coast near Southampton. Every member of the team is an active RS sailor who understands the boats and shares the companies aim to deliver great boats.
RS are proud to work closely with the International Sailing Federation (a number of RS boats are ISAF International or Recognised racing classes) and are proud partners of their Connect to Sailing programme, setting out to build grass roots sailing worldwide. RS Sailing also works closely with many National Sailing Authorities. The number of countries that have adopted RS boats for training and racing grows every year.


“Changing Your Game Plan to Welcome Diverse Customers” : Molly Winans, SpinSheet Magazine


Molly has been sailing since childhood and is Managing editor of sailing and boating publications, SpinSheet, PropTalk, and Start Sailing Now. Following many years as a sailing instructor and a freelance writer (with a “real job” in the business world), the marine industry drew her in. For 10 years, she has been writing about sailors, their passions, their challenges, and how to bring more of them into the sport. When Winans is not orchestrating writers’ deadlines in her Annapolis office, she can be found gunkholing on the Chesapeake Bay and exploring the shallows on her paddleboard.


“Reaching Out to a Diverse Audience” : Carl Blackwell, Senior VP, Marketing & Communications, CMO, NMMA


Carl joined the National Marine Manufacturers Association as Chief Marketing Officer in September, 2003.  Blackwell oversees all association marketing and communication efforts including boat shows.  In July 2011, Carl was appointed President of Grow Boating, Inc., which produces the industry-funded Discover Boating Campaign, and as CMO/ SVP Marketing & Communications for NMMA.  
Prior to joining NMMA, Blackwell spent eight years with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association as Executive Director of Marketing.  He also has worked in various marketing and public relations capacities for General Mills, Little Caesars, Dean Foods, and Bentley Barnes and Lynn Advertising.   Carl Blackwell graduated with honours from St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana with a BS in Management.  He grew up in southern Indiana near Lake Monroe, where he enjoyed the water on several family and friends’ boats.  He docks his boat at Diversey Harbour in Chicago Participation


“Sailing in Asia and ASAF 2012-2016” : Dr Malav Shroff, ASAF – Asian Sailing Federation


Malav is an Undergraduate in Medicine from Mumbai University and Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University (U.K.) for Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine.  He is currently the President of the Asian Sailing Federation and Executive Committee Member of the India’s Governing Council of Sports Authority of India (Government of India). 

Malav represented India in the 2004 Olympics as an athlete and as Coach at the 2008 Olympics.  He is also a Committee member of the International Sailing Federation.  Malav has won various National and International Championships in sailing.  Malav is Founder & CEO of Ocean Blue Group, India’s only integrated provider for all leisure marine services, boats/yachts, and water-sports. Subsidiaries include: Mahindra Ocean Blue Marine Pvt Ltd (India;s first boat/yacht manufacturer), Marine Fronters Pvt Ltd, Ocean Blue Boating (Services & Marinas), Ocean Blue Andamans. 


Session 2 : “Participation”

“Empowering Women Through Sports” : Mrs Salma Al Hashmy & Her Highness Sayyida Ghada Al Said, Oman Sail


Launched in 2011, the Oman Sail Women’s Sailing Programme was conceived as part of the wider vision to rekindle Oman’s maritime heritage. The program comes in line with His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Al Said’s vision to release the Omani citizen's creative energies, bring out their latent potential, develop their talents and skills and enable them to make a greater contribution. This vision underpins the whole project and drives all who are involved.

Over 150 women, aged from 18 to 35, from across Oman originally applied to become part of the programme. None had sailed before and only a handful could swim, they were put through a tough selection process and 30 of the young women were selected to be members of the inaugural group of trainees in the Women’s Programme. Since then the Programme has gone from strength to strength.


“Increasing Sailing Participation Internationally & the Bart’s Bash Effect : Richard Percy, Chief Executive, Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation

 Richard has sailed for the past 30 years and has spent the last 16 years developing sustainable world class sailing centres in the UK and internationally. Through his career he has helped develop sustainable grassroots sailing programmes and increase sailing participation.

Appointed as CEO in April 2014, Richard has spent the last 6 months producing a variety of charitable programmes, currently being vigorously tested at the Andrew Simpson Sailing Centre. Richard was also integral to the success of the fundraising event Bart’s Bash which took place on September 21st 2014 across the World and proved to be the largest sailing race that has ever taken place.

“Learning from Another Industry – Growing Participation in Cycling” : Terry Greenwood, British Cycling

Terry has spent 15 years in membership acquisition, retention and relationship management within sport. He has been Membership Manager of British Cycling since 2007. Terry leads British Cycling’s membership and club affiliation operation, with responsibility for data acquisition and retention, insight, customer management and CRM systems. Terry leads the team that has grown membership of British Cycling from 19,000 to 100,000 members since 2007 and has been at the forefront of British Cycling’s work to make cycling a mainstream activity in Great Britain.

Cycling as a sport in Great Britain has grown substantially over the past few years and this presentation focuses on the strategy that has helped to drive that growth. Terry will share some of the lessons that he and British Cycling have learnt in using the success of elite cyclists to inspire, capture and convert more people into the sport. He will speak about the importance of data collection and conversion as a driver of participation and describe his insight-driven approach to member acquisition and customer retention. He will describe the journey that has seen British Cycling evolve from being a minority sport with low levels of participation to being a sport at the heart of a cycling nation.



Session 3 : “Innovation”

“GUNBOAT : Building a Brand, a Culture, and a New Market Segment in Sailing” : Peter Johnstone, Gunboat



Peter is a lifelong boatbuilder, brand-builder, innovator, and promoter of sailing. He turned around the Sunfish & Laser brands in the 1990’s, helped the Laser and Laser Radial become Olympic classes, and conceived/commissioned the 49er sailboat and class, which under Peter’s leadership also became Olympic. He created the Edgewater brand of powerboats from an insolvent company. Within five years, Edgewater out-sold the renown Boston Whaler brand. In 2000, Peter founded GUNBOAT, the renown carbon cruising catamarans that launched a successful new market segment in sailing. GUNBOAT is delivering superyacht luxury and grand prix speeds in an innovative design aimed at world cruising and Caribbean GUNBOAT CLASS racing.


“Defi Wind & Defi Kite” : Philippe Fourrier and Phippe Bru, Ilago Event


Philippe has been working in the nautical and maritime sectors for over twenty years, including twelve within the French Nautical Industries Federation. He launched Ilago Group in 2011. He is the current Exhibition Manager of Euromaritime - the European marine business show - and of the French Economy of the Sea Congress, while also providing strategic analysis and consulting for several companies and institutions.

Philippe is Associate Director of Ilago Event Board sports specialist and former manager of a nautical centre and windsurfing training centre,. He earned his international reputation with the creation of Defi Wind in 2000, the event with the largest number of competing windsurfers in the world. He has since added many accomplishments to his credit, both in France and abroad, making full use of all the disciplines in modern board sports.


“Increasing Participation and Engagement through Cost Effective Technology” : Simon Lovesey, Sail Racer



Simon is a lifelong sailor and IT professional, who set-up SailRacer 5 years ago after developing online entry and results systems for events he was involved in organising himself.  A growing demand from other events, class associations, clubs and sailing federations soon saw SailRacer become a full time business, with staff and offices.  Simon's vision is to enhance and augment the sport of sailing through the use of technology from other sectors, such as GPS tracking and video presentation, in an affordable manner.


“New ISAF World Cup Format” : John Craig, ISAF


John has been appointed in the new role of Head of the ISAF Sailing World Cup.  John’s focus is to implement their commercial strategy for the ISAF Sailing World Cup and the Grand Final.  Craig, a renowned International Race Officer, joined the ISAF Secretariat on 1 April 2014.  The first ISAF Sailing World Cup Grand Final will take place in December 2014 in the Middle East.  A Canadian, now resident of San Francisco, Craig was recently responsible for conducting the races of the America's Cup World Series, the Louis Vuitton Cup - America’s Cup Challenger Series, and the 34th America's Cup Finals.  He has run everything from Optimist regattas to World Championships for the Star and Melges 32 class.
Craig has also been the regular PRO since 2006 for the ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami (former Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta), presented by US Sailing. 


ISS Gala Dinner Speakers


Hilary Lister, Sailor
Hilary was not born quadriplegic, in fact she was a very sporty child, enjoying swimming, hockey and rugby in particular. If there was a ball involved, then Hilary wanted to play! However, after coming off the hockey pitch with aching knees one day at the age of 11, Hilary was eventually diagnosed with a degenerative disease, which would slowly limit the use of her body as she became older.
After she became quadriplegic she felt as if she had lost everything she'd ever cared about, from biochemistry to music. An introduction to sailing in 2003 through Westbere Sailing Opportunities provided a fresh impetus and transformed life for Hilary. In her words "It turned a light back on inside me". 
In 2005, Hilary Lister made history by becoming the first ever quadriplegic to sail solo across the English Channel. It was the start of a journey, pushing back the boundaries of technology and challenging her body to achieve what many people continue to tell her is impossible!
On 31st August 2009 Hilary Lister became the first disabled woman to sail solo around Britain. She is only able to move her head and sails using three straws to control the boat.  Hilary sailed into the record books on 23rd August 2005 when she sailed solo across the English Channel.  Her current project is to sail from Mumbai to Muscat with an Omani woman, Nashwa al Kindi.

Rod Carr CBE, Chair of Sport England

Rod was Chief Executive of the Royal Yachting Association from 2000 to 2010, having previously been Racing Manager and Performance Director, Team Manager for the Atlanta Olympic Games, and Team Coach in Los Angeles, Seoul and Barcelona.
Rod was the architect of the RYA World Class Performance programme for sailing which has delivered unprecedented and consistent medal success at every Games since Sydney 2000.
His standing in British sport was rewarded in 2000 when he was asked by the British Olympic Association to be Deputy Chef de Mission for the whole of Team GB at the Sydney Olympics. He was awarded an OBE in 2005, and in 2010 received a CBE.  Rod joined the UK Sport Board in 2005 and was appointed as Chair in 2013.
 

7/10/2014 15:21